WEDDINGS When he says ”Engage!” he means it: On Aug. 25, Patrick Stewart, 60, wed former Star Trek: The Next Generation coproducer Wendy Neuss. The couple first met on the show more than a decade ago.

RECOVERING Plucky ingenue Minnie Driver (Return to Me), 30, underwent an emergency appendectomy Aug. 21 after experiencing stomach pain while in London filming High Heels and Lowlifes. Her publicist said the actress would be back on the set ”within a matter of days.”

COURTS Another storm’s brewing: Three relatives of Frank William ”Billy” Tyne, the late ship captain played by George Clooney in The Perfect Storm, filed a suit Aug. 24 against Warner Bros. (though not against Sebastian Junger, who wrote the best-selling book). Seeking unspecified damages, the relatives allege the film falsely depicts the skipper as ”emotionally aloof” and ”reckless.” A Warner spokeswoman disputes the claims, insisting the filmmakers never ”tarnished his memory.” … On Aug. 28, shock rapper Eminem (né Marshall Mathers III), 27, and estranged wife Kim Mathers, 25, settled her week-old $10 million defamation suit for undisclosed terms. Em, who filed for divorce Aug. 16, also agreed to grant Kim sole physical custody of their daughter Hailie, 4, and to provide them with financial support … Seeking to block an upcoming soundtrack album for Survivor, Frank Sullivan III, guitarist and cofounder of ’80s rock band Survivor, filed suit Aug. 18 for trademark infringement against CBS and TVT Records. ”It should be obvious that consumers are not going to confuse the soundtrack to the TV show Survivor with classic-rock songs by the band Survivor,” a TVT spokesman said in a statement. CBS had no comment.

DEATHSDouglas Allen Woody, 44, bassist for the Allman Brothers Band and later Gov’t Mule, of unknown causes, Aug. 26, in his motel room in Queens, N.Y. … Former Disney cartoonist Carl Barks, 99, who created the miserly Scrooge McDuck and helped turn Donald Duck from a cranky quack into a lovable Everybird, after battling leukemia, Aug. 25, in Grants Pass, Ore. … Rock composer Jack Nitzsche, 63, of cardiac arrest after a bronchial infection, Aug. 25, in L.A. He was an arranger for Phil Spector (including on Ike and Tina Turner’s ”River Deep — Mountain High”) and worked with acts like the Rolling Stones and Neil Young. He earned an Oscar for cowriting the theme song to An Officer and a Gentleman and noms for the scores to Officer and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest … Stuntman Chris Lamon, 35, of head injuries from a stunt for the Steven Seagal action film Exit Wounds, Aug. 23, in Toronto.

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